Sound By The Pound

Just a short update.

On the weekend I submitted my entry for the Triple J hottest 100 of all time thingy. This is my list:
The Clash - White Riot
Rancid - Time Bomb
The Saints - (i'm) Stranded
The Victims - Television Addict
The Specials - Ghost Town
Operation Ivy - Sound System
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Radio Radio
Billy Bragg - A New England
The Skatalites - Christine Keeler
Desmond Dekker & The Aces - Israelites

All of them I feel have been significant in my life in some form. It took me a few hours to whittle it down to that tiny list!

Throwdown audio mixing an video editing has begun. I've started with San Salvador because it seems that their audio tracks came out the best. Seven Steady's were okay and the other stages were pretty bad, but at least it was something. It's a pity the cameras didn't work so well. At one stage with San Salvadors set, we only had two cameras filming them out of the 4 we had set up. Oh well.

Speaking of San Salvador, here is a video for you all that I found the other week. It's of them playing in Panania in Nov 2007 at Youthquake. I think this might be one of Ben's last shows with the band before he moved to Brisbane. Anyway, just watch it and enjoy it:

Dreamworld

Disclaimer: This entry was written when I was still upset, but I decided to type it anyway because I felt the need to get all this out of my system. I'm not good at articulating myself at the best of times, so please bear with this.


Okay, so Hometown Throwdown has been and gone. I had a lot of fun on the night, the bands played well, the people who were there had an excellent time and the follow up night ran really smoothly. There was lots of support and lots of people helped out doing small jobs that just helped pull the night together. Thanks to all of you, I really freaking appreciate it. Not even kidding on that one. Major props go out to Mike from San Salvador for coming all the way to Sydney with the biggest flu ever to play.

Despite all that, what I wanted to achieve didn't happen.

Why? Maybe you're thinking I have too higher expectations, but here is my explanation. I hope you understand my reasons. This is complete, utter and blunt honesty here.

The reason I love putting on such an event in the first place is because I get to involve two of my favourite things: church and audio/music. Bringing the two together under one roof and making them good with the skills I have gives me the biggest thrill. So much so that for the past 2 months I've literally been living and breathing the entire show, planning it all in my head with meticulous detail so as on the night once the first band is playing the entire night runs itself and runs like magic. From handing out flyers to people on the street, to putting them up in shops, getting them handed out in schools, spending the entire day looking up and emailing every Anglican & Baptist (I only got through A and B in the White Pages) church in Sydney about the gig, I've been doing a lot of hard work.
Why so much? Because I'm sick of so many things I see going on that this is my way of bring able to help make a difference to so many of them.
Some of those things are:
- Bad church events. The number of tacky and badly organised church events that go on in every church around the place, not just in Sydney but everywhere, just makes me feel so embarrassed to encourage people to go to them.
- Stereotypes. You know what I mean. Most people I talk to who aren't Christians think that church is a boring place where you go on Sundays because you have to because a guy up the front is telling you you're an evil person. They also think that we hate gay people and just want their money.
- Bad bands. There are so many bad Christian bands out there. Not even kidding.

So, what do I want to achieve, considering the feelings I have towards those items above (and many others)?

Well, what I want to do is be able to share my passion for being a Christian with other people, particularly those who aren't Christians, by showing them that what really goes on in church doesn't have to be what they expect it to be.
I want to show them that it is a place full of good people with many many great skills who just want to show love to them and each other. They don't hate people just because they're different, no matter whether it be because of their orientation, race, culture, background or anything else. It's a place where things are peaceful, fun and where it's attendees are striving for a bigger and better world.
I want to show them the power of God's love by demonstrating to them a friendly, unified, selfless and giving community of people who only want the best from everyone.
I want a church to be a place that people WANT to go to.

Some people would argue that Saturday night's event was just that. But I would argue otherwise.

Now, we got 240 people through the door. Pretty much everyone would say that was awesome. My main issue with this is the number of people that DIDN'T come.

Before it happened, I've been spending every minute of my spare time telling everyone I can about the show, getting people excited about it and trying to get them to come along. Through that process a large number of people said they would come who didn't show up. Most of those people aren't Christians, but a lot of them are.
The problem I have with this is how am I meant to break down barriers in peoples minds, help push good church events and show people what God's love can really be like if the people that really need to see and hear it don't show up?
I put on a show that was extremely lightweight on the Christian content to even try and get people to even turn up, with the option of hearing it the next night after having a great time the night before and being more comfortable with the idea, but they still didn't come.

Pretty much all the people that were at the show were from other churches, not from the general public. How am I to reach the general public, have them come along and achieve the goals I want, when after spending every waking moment putting all my effort in to try and make an event (a really kick ass event, to be honest) that even a small number of them could show up to and have a good time, and they don't?

I know the show was great and I know it ran really well. I know the bands were great and I know everyone that was there had a good time. The problem is that I just can't get my mind off all the people that didn't come, especially those who told me they would and didn't.

I may feel a whole lot different about this in a week or two when I've spoken to more people about it, but currently, the night after it happened I don't feel very satisfied.

I know I can put on a really good show with really good bands and very honest and open intentions, but what use is it if the people who need to hear it, don't?

Diabolic Scheme

Well well, what do we have here?

Another chapter in Owen's life. Sweet

I've been quite busy lately, not getting much sleep and just generally exhausted, but that's life!

I've been working, staying back late (i.e. till 5am) to mix a song for Pat Maloney that didn't come out sounding very good at all (i.e. not exactly my best work) so that was kinda lame, but the recordings my students are doing have been coming along very nicely and are sounding great. I think I might steal a couple to mix for a bit of fun once they're finished being recorded. I'm quite proud of all of them, especially those who had some of their work deleted and have had to re-record it again.

I'm organising a show and you need to come along as it's going to be ace! Check out the flyer and gasp at it's awesomeness:


It's going to be a brilliant night with so many good bands playing and all for only $10! Make sure you go to http://www.myspace.com/hometownthrowdown or if you're a Facebook type of person go to http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=79596933119 and let me know you're going to come along.

What my weekend hopes to bring me:
- Playing football in the mud
- Photocopying and cutting up thousands of flyers
- Doing some trivia
- Watching Everton beat Chelsea in the FA Cup final
- Going to the Belgian Beer Cafe with Esther for tasty lunch and wishing I owned one of the Tintin posters they have on their walls
- Buying a few CD's I've been wanting to get
- Hanging out with peeps at church
- Organising more stuff for Throwdown and just generally being excited by it

Yay!

Radio Radio

The fun and exciting times of Owen, back again for your internet boredom breaking interests!

Last week I got to hang out with Dan Jones on his radio show over at 2SSR. While I didn't do too much in the way of talking, I did get to play a few tunes and had an enjoyable time playing with all the old equipment the station has (gotta love community radio, ha). If you'd like to hear ramblings instead of reading some head on over to http://www.danjoneslive.com/main/archives/347 and have a listen. Unfortunately the music can't be put on the online podcast due to copyright issues, but you can hear me and Dan's mate Josh make jokes about Dan no problems. The song names are still there and there is a small sample of them there, so feel free to check them out of your own accord sometime.
Photos from the trip? Check them out here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=93938&id=544876388&l=711eafff5b.

Dylan Moran was a great highlight of the past few weeks as well. He made me laugh so hard my stomach was hurting hours afterwards!

Remember in the last blog I mentioned that I went to Steamfest with Dad? Well I made a video of it! Have a look at it here: http://www.facebook.com/v/80170146388

That's it for the moment.

North To The Ocean, Harder Than The Sun

Hello World.

The past few weeks have been pretty full, but very fun and eventful!

I moved out of home for a few weeks, staying with my friend Jez. I didn't see him very often because of our work hours but when we hung out it was good times. The freedom of not having to tell family members everything I was doing was pretty nice!
While there I went and saw Soul Riot play and got to hang out with those guys too, so that was pretty fun. Check out a video of them I filmed of their song Animal:

Soul Riot - Animal


Dad and I went to this thing called Steamfest and had an awesome time chasing trains around all weekend. For photos of those shenanigans, follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=89972&id=544876388

Yesterday was my Graduation! I was very pleased to receive my certificate and got to wear a fancy getup and everything. For photos of that, follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=89963&id=544876388

But yes, things have been pretty alright lately!

Function Is The Key

Just a few short things.

First things first, I've changed the template of my blog. I'm not THAT happy with it but it'll say like this until I can find a better one.

My work hours have changed again, so if you want me to do stuff with you it will be hard. I now work on Monday, Thursday and Friday nights till midnight. A little annoying but that's the way it is.

When I was in Melbourne I bought one of these little friends:

I finally found a place online to buy film for it too (thanks ebay!) so I'll hopefully be taking photos with it soon.
The button on the top that opens the shutter doesn't work, but when the camera flicks open the shutter opens and closes. A little annoying but I'll deal with it. The camera only cost me $5, which is 1/2 the cost of a roll of film for it. The film is 110 film and comes in a cartridge. Pretty fun.

I've been working my way through my Monty Python DVD's quite steadily and have been enjoying them very much. I've also had my first kick around to get ready for another season of Football. It turns out that once again I'm less fit than the old guys. Pretty embarrassing but I'm sure that after a trial game or two I can come good again.

Nothing too ground breaking for this entry, just a quick update for the sake of it.

Oh yeah, if you haven't done beforehand, please check out this album:

Hello To Wasted Hours

3 easy steps to forgetting your worries and having a blast:

1. Grab your favourite Less Than Jake album
2. Play at a reasonable volume (i.e. loud)
3. Sing every single line at the top of your lungs

Success!

(s)He's Lost Control

Bad week? Yep.

To but it bluntly, early last week I had a friend overdose on drugs, become brain dead as a result die, all within 24 hours. Pretty much the worst ever. He lived in the USA, so I couldn't do much except sit at work pretending not to feel so bad.
The same day I found all that out I got my student feedback forms and noticed that most students didn't like me. Most of it really was my fault. I haven't been as attentive as usual and my brain has been all over the place lately, resulting in me not sitting in with my students as much as I should have. I'm attempting to fix this and get my brain centered.
That morning I also realised I left my wallet at home when I was almost at work on the train. This meant my weekly ticket was at home. I was freaking out because I had to get through the ticket barriers and past the ticket inspectors that had been there all week. Luckily the ticket inspectors weren't there that day and I snuck through the wheelchair exit.

The rest of the week I didn't get much sleep. The weekend was okay because I got to go have some Bulmers and listen to great ska/reggae/punk tunes at a pub and eat some good food, but the funeral of my friend was on at the same time so I was also forcing myself not to think about it too much.

Yesterday I did some mixing at The Gaelic Club, a place I haven't mixed in a long time. They had a new console so it took me a bit to get my head around the routing of it and how it worked. The mixes were good from about 1/2 way through but before that it was pretty rubbish. It was good getting to learn a new and complicated console but also a little stressful as it was a JMC event and all the higher ups were there listening/performing.

Today was a bit lame. I got a nice sleep in, but after sitting around for ages I thought I'd go to the beach for a swim. I drove all the 35 mins it takes to get there to find all the beaches shut because of rough surf. Annoying.
Headed for home and a few mins down the road I heard a "thumthumthumthumthum" noise coming from my front left tyre. I had run over a screw and it was stuck in the tyre. managed to change the tyre and have taken it to the mechanic to see if he can plug it and save me buying a new tyre. He took one look at the screw and didn't look too optimistic. Lame. I pick it up tomorrow and hope that it is fixed.

OKAY I PROMISE NO MORE RANTING ABOUT BAD THINGS IN THIS ALREADY LENGTH BLOG ENTRY.

So, now that all the bad stuff it out of the way, I should mention I'm heading to Melbourne this weekend with Esther, so if you're a Melbourneite and would like to hand out, message/email/sms/call me and we'll sort something out. Esther and I plan on relaxing and taking time out from Sydney so seeing our Melbourne friends would be great times.

This week things I aim to do:
- Wake up
- Be more on my game
- Not be as pessimistic
- Be way more confident and not doubt my skills and talents
- Realise that it's a new week and the past week's events are exactly that, past events

Lets see how I go!

I leave you with something to ponder, and maybe even a way for you to respond to this blog entry so I know if anyone actually reads it.

Which song is better?

Chuck Berry - Johnny B Goode (1958):


OR

The Kinks - All Day & All Of The Night (1964):


?

No They Never Miss A Beat

Wow, I know I say this quite a bit, but I need to update this more.

So, since November huh? A lot has happened, most of which has kept me busy.

I worked right up until Christmas. I was at JMC Mon-Fri and then doing live gigs every weekend, so I was very busy! Things have slowed down now, there are no live gigs (happens at this time of year) and I'm only at JMC 3 days a week until March when the main intake starts up again and we have a lot of students again. The students I have at the moment are doing what's called an "unsupervised recording" where they go off and do it on their own. Make life a bit more relaxing for me, but also a bit boring. I might start ducking in on them all a bit more often to keep them going, take a listen to their tracks and give them some tips. As one student yearned last week, "COME ON, IMPART KNOWLEDGE ON ME!"

After Christmas I was away on beach mission. Having no internet for two weeks was glorious. We had a great turnout of people to our activities and they all seemed to enjoy it. It was good for me in that I got to go to the beach every day (I did miss 2 days unfortunately) and hang out with a bunch of mates. I also produced a video with some of the guys on mission as an exercise at getting used to the new ProTools 8 that came out a week before Christmas. The whole song was written, recorded and filmed in 4 hours. Pretty crazy and dodgy but really quite fun. Check it out here:


After coming back from mission I've been going to the beach an average of 2-3 times a week and can't wait to go back again. Might not make it again till the weekend (or maybe Friday morning before work again, we'll see) as I have work on.

Esther and I have bought tickets to go overseas again. We're heading back to the USA to go to Sarah and Justin's wedding. Hopefully some of the Dutchies will be able to make it too and we can have a cool UK reunion thing. Should be good fun. It's only for 3 weeks but it'll be nice to go overseas again. We're going to try and get to Canada too, at least then we can get a new country under our belts.

I've got a huge urge to do some recording, preferentially of a band that use both live and electronic instruments. If you know of anyone, send me an email.
Also, you know of any bands that want a live recording done, PLEASE get them to email me at structurefire@gmail.com. I'm more than happy to do some live recording, it'll be great fun for all involved and all the band needs to do is play a concert. They don't need to spend days in a studio or anything. Let me know.

That's enough for now. I've got this musical bug stuck in my brain that I think is forming new ideas about doing recordings and styles of music. Might talk about that another day when I shouldn't be about to go to bed, ha.

Night night.